Disclaimer – ½ Prince and all of the characters—aside from my OC's—belong to Yu Wo
Note – I've finally gotten around to calling the father by his name. xP Good old Kuo Li!
Or, well, not so good.
The days and nights passed calmly, uneventfully, and agonizingly slowly following the morning we'd all gone to the lake in Second Life. Dib and Heng both had barely even looked at me after our conversation, much less spoke to me—he never said anything unless it was necessary. He still acted as cheerful as he always had, but underneath he was completely different than normal.
Perhaps he was simply being considerate to Jiao and I, distancing himself for our sakes, but it was extremely irritating. It made me wonder why I'd ever wanted that distance in the first place. I caught myself over and over regretting how I'd scolded Heng so many times for being stubborn about seeing me in real life. Now I knew how he'd felt every time I'd brushed him off so thoughtlessly.
Every time I saw him at the office, a part of me inwardly screamed at him to stop ignoring me. To stop acting like we weren't anything but strangers who happened to work together. But I never brought it up. It was what I'd asked him for, and it was what he'd finally given me. It was what I needed.
But it wasn't what I wanted.
And so an entire week passed. I spent my time working and also visiting the Lin house nearly every day. My weak attempts at easing my loneliness with the company of the other four never worked, however, and the more time I spent trying not to think about Heng, the more he popped into my head. What was he doing? How was he doing? How were his brothers?…When were things going to be even slightly normal between us again?
It had only been a matter of days, and I still saw him all the time, but I missed him terribly.
However, two distractions arrived home one evening in the forms of my father and the usual doctor who examined me every few months. Apparently that revolting tea my father had given me for my cough wasn't the entire treatment.
Without a greeting, my father went to have dinner in his rooms, leaving me to be examined in my bedroom. I watched nervously as the doctor pulled out the usual clipboard and pen, and then proceeded to stare at me with one of his polite, somewhat eager-looking smiles. "So, Zian…how have you been since I saw you last?"
"As I usually am," I replied, watching in slight annoyance as he nodded and wrote something down. Before Heng had mentioned seeing the results of my tests, I'd never been particularly curious as to what the man had written. But now I really wanted to know what it was he was writing. However, not wanting to get in trouble so soon after my father came home, I held back my questions.
"Kuo Li told me that you had a cough recently." His wrinkled face looked even more expectant than before, nearly to the point of being child-like, regardless of his ridiculously poofy and wispy white hair and bushy gray mustache.
"Yes, I did," I replied, unconsciously leaning away from him. "I was on a business trip for three days and the cough appeared the morning after I came back home."
"Hrm," he grunted, nodding. "That could have just been a common virus, since you came into contact—directly and indirectly—with quite a few other people. Could have picked it up anywhere. On the plane, in a taxi, at the hotel, around the people you went with, even back at the office before you left. The possibilities could go on and on.
"Did you have any other symptoms? Anything unusual about the cough?" His right hand was nearly quivering with the want to write something else.
"I also had a stomach ache. And, um, I was coughing up blood. I assume that is not normal…" I paused in fright when the man's face suddenly went very pale, then hastily added, "But my father gave me some tea and both the cough and the stomach ache were gone nearly right away."
A long, pent-up breath blasted out between the man's lips as he rolled his eyes, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "That moron." He took a moment to scribble something else on his clipboard, leaving me to wonder who he had directed that insult at, and then he stared at me again. "And you're feeling fine now? Nothing unusual?"
"No, nothing." I shook my head. "Just the usual; lack of appetite, feeling cold all the time…"
"Uh-huh, normal stuff. For you, anyway." Another second passed to write. "On the business trip," he continued, dark eyes narrowing in an annoyed look, "were you eating regularly‽"
Feeling somewhat guilty, I slowly shook my head again. "Just some fruit and tea. Oh, and a bowl of congee."
He sighed again. "Well, that explains it. Was anyone else roomed with you?"
In bewilderment I replied, "Yes, I shared the hotel room with one of my employees." Explained what?
"Ah, so he's not a total moron, but the tea…" came another, almost inaudible mumble, throwing me further into my confusion and curiosity. Was he directing those things at my father? If that was the case, he certainly was daring. He hadn't ever really been very cautious around my father, but insulting him was another matter entirely from simply being relaxed.
He glanced up. "The tea, did your employee have some as well?"
I nodded.
"Then they wouldn't have used that…" He abruptly and very loudly cleared his throat, startling me somewhat. "Well, have your meals here at home—they don't have to be big, but just be sure you eat every day."
I nodded again and he crouched down to flip open his large bag, pulling out a stethoscope. Before he could ask, I quickly removed my jacket, vest, tie and shirt, attempting to suppress the immediate onslaught of shivers from having nothing covering my torso.
The doctor noisily clicked his tongue when he stared at my chest; it was still faintly mottled with the bruises of my last beating. "Stupid idiot…Did it again, did he?" he softly asked, but didn't wait for an answer as he pressed the freezing cold end of the stethoscope to my skin. I took a deep breath nearly automatically, slowly letting it back out afterward. After having gone through these examinations so often, I already knew what I was supposed to do, and we breezed through several parts of the exam until he had me laying down on the bed.
His thin and gnarly hands pressed down on the bruised spots and he frowned, glancing up to my face. "Does that hurt?" he asked, and I shook my head. He hummed and moved lower, once again pressing down. That time I flinched in discomfort as a dull pain shot through my chest. "I take it that hurts," he muttered, moving away from me to write something down yet again. "When did he do it?"
"Slightly over a week ago," I answered slowly.
"Mm, right before he left, then." The noise of pen on paper went on for a while longer, then he reappeared over me. "I didn't bring any of my equipment to scan you with, since Kuo Li didn't tell me about that little incident—no surprise there—but has the pain lessened since then?"
"Yes, quite a bit, although it still hurts a little from time to time. But nothing like it had been at first." I could barely sit up or breathe the morning after it had happened.
"Ah, good. Nothing broken, in that case. Just some bruised ribs. Pain killers'll fix you up just fine, and everything'll heal soon enough." With a frown, he shook his head. "Really, we've told him over and over to be more careful with you, and he never listens. That stupid blockhead."
I was now convinced he was calling my father all of those names. The wondering thought of if the doctor said those things to his face went through my head. I could only imagine what would happen to me or anyone else if such things were said in his presence. He would probably explode. No, he would definitely explode. Very loudly and violently.
"I'm going to tell him off after this…" the doctor unexpectedly grumbled as he bent down to pull out something else out of his bag, falling silent as he proceeded with the examination. Half an hour later he left with the usual cheery smile and completely insufficient explanation of "You're fine!" while he strode out my bedroom door, taking all of his stuff with him. Not wanting to get caught in the crossfire of what I assumed was about to happen, I hurried out into my office, locked the door after him, then went back into my bedroom and locked that door as well. My father and a few members of the house staff actually had the keys to the doors, but locking them still made me feel a bit safer.
After waiting another hour to make sure my father wasn't going to come bursting into my rooms to blame me for getting told off, I changed into my pajamas and logged into Second Life, taking a long, relieved breath of the moist air as I glanced around the misty lake. The enormous pine trees scattered along the bank were barely visible through the floaty vapors, and weak rays of sunlight pressed down from above, giving everything a slightly eerie illumination. The water around me was dark and calm, not a ripple in sight, and added to the serene atmosphere…
"GET OUT OF THE WAY, GĒGE!"
…Or not so serene…
I was suddenly slapped across the face with a wet mermaid fin that came flying out of nowhere, nearly causing me to tip off the slippery rock that I was perched on. Avila—soaking wet from head to toe—agilely hopped up next to me while I shakily righted myself. A loud splash came from my left and a small wave of water washed over the top of my boots. "Sheesh!" Avila exclaimed, frowning up at me. "What a place to login; the mermaid was flying right at you. And now I lost it! It took me forever to capture, too!" She agitatedly waved her nan dao over the water, which was once again smooth and calm as if the ripples one would expect had been magically suppressed. The mermaids were very skilled at concealing their location. However…
"I'm sorry, I'll get you another one." I gave her a tiny smile as I crouched down, placing my right palm on the cold surface of the lake. I glanced upward. "Is anyone in the water?"
"No." She shook her head, water dripping all over the place. "No one else is online yet. Dib always logs in so late—I guess you know that already, though—Dàsăo and Dàgē are putting Shuang-mèi to bed, and Jiĕjie is wi—AH! I mean, she'll be on a bit late tonight!" She gave me a fearful, wide-eyed stare.
Nodding in slight bewilderment over her very loud, guarded explanation, I looked back down, watching carefully for any of those pale, clammy, and scaly mermaid hands that might shoot up and drag me under the dark green water—that had happened several times now to our three warriors and myself—poor Wei Bo and his heavy armor had a very difficult time staying afloat—no wonder he didn't want to train here—I let some of my mana flow into the gold ring on my finger, waited for the moment when Avila jumped safely into the air as high as she could, then I shot the magic out into the water. With a bright flash of light, a sizzling, electrical noise buzzed through the churning water, then everything was calm again.
With this water-filled location, my ring from the dragon king was extremely useful. It had been very startling the first time I'd experimented with it—also having been the first time I'd ever used magic, I was even more clueless as to what I was doing—and had idiotically used all of my mana, sending giant lightening bolts shooting off through the air all over the place while deafening thunder crashed against our ears, scaring everyone, myself included, nearly to death. But with some more practice, I could now control where the electricity went and how many mana points I used.
"THERE'S ONE! GET IT! GET IT!" Avila shrieked in excitement, shaking me back and forth with one hand, wildly pointing her wide sword with the other. The temporarily paralyzed body of a mermaid had floated upward near our rock, the greenish water giving its actually colorless skin a bizarre tint.
Extending my wings, I moved myself over the mermaid and grabbed it by the arms, removing it from the lake. With a burst of strength, I whirled around and threw the limp monster as hard as I could to the grassy bank. Avila bounded after it, using the rocks jutting out from the water as stepping stones. While she busied herself with that one, I flapped over to another mermaid, pulling out my bow and an arrow as I went. I shot the unconscious monster through the neck and watched blood seep out through the water, shooting it several more times until it was dead. I felt somewhat bored over how easy it was to attack them while they were stunned.
However, the ring's effect only lasted thirty seconds before they were awake again.
A tiny splash from behind alerted me to the presence of another one launching itself at me. I shot upward, twisting myself upside down to face the merman who had attacked. Its wide mouth was fully open in a high-pitched scream, numerous pointy teeth bared and completely black eyes narrowed into a furious glare.
When its jagged-edged sword came swishing toward my head, I leaned to one side, turning myself right-side-up and shooting the monster's back with two arrows before it went into the lake again. I waited, holding my breath for several seconds while I watched for another attack, but nothing happened. Lowering myself down until my boots were nearly touching the glass-like surface of the water, I continued to wait, knowing they would attack when I was so close; they always stayed under the water and hid when I was too far away.
Barely a second later, several hands shot out of the water and swung at my feet, but I lifted myself out of reach. However, while I was evading them, a mermaid flew out of the water behind me and latched onto my back, dragging me into the lake. Keeping hold of my bow with one hand, I unsheathed my dagger with the other and irritatedly sawed at the arm that was wrapped around my neck.
While I was doing that, a second mermaid attacked me from the front, running a sword all the way through my thigh. Wincing in pain, I kicked that one's face with my uninjured leg and gave one last chop at the other's arm, tearing it off. Not held down anymore, I sheathed my dagger, swam to the surface and gasped for air once I was above the water again, heading for the bank.
Landing on one foot, I balanced myself and watched for a moment while Avila repeatedly stabbed a mermaid she'd lured to the bank on her own. Wei Bo and Xiu Chen had also logged in while I'd been fighting, and were helping Avila in her battle. I peeled off the mermaid arm from around my neck and used it to wave hello at the other two when they shouted some greetings over to me, then I fell back to sit on the ground, pushing my sodden hair out of my face.
"You should tie it back."
Jumping in surprise, I questioningly looked up to see Jiū standing beside me, smiling in amusement.
"Tie what back?"
"Your hair," she added. "It gets in the way while fighting, doesn't it? Especially underwater."
"Oh, yes. Sometimes," I replied, wondering why I'd never thought of that before. "But I have nothing to tie it with."
Jiū opened up her pouch, inserted a hand, and then pulled out what looked like a long, white string. She knelt at my back and carefully gathered together my damp hair. "I bought this in Moon City. Avila-mèi was buying a pink one for herself and forced me to get one as well. But I don't use it often, since I'm never actually in the fights like the warriors and you. So you may have it," she told me, gently drawing her fingers through my hair.
"I see, thank you," I murmured, laughing slightly. I probably wasn't going to use it very often, either, since I had no problems with my hair getting in my face while I was above the water and the wind could keep it out of the way, but it was still nice of her to offer it.
"Your hair is so silky," she remarked. "It would be nice if hair in real life stayed like this without any treatment or anything." I would have nodded in agreement, but I didn't want to move my head, so I settled for a small humming noise. As her hand smoothed over the top of my head, my eyes widened in horror when Dib suddenly materialized out of nowhere in front of us. He stared at me for a long moment, face blank.
Logging in just when I didn't want him to. Why was his timing so terrible?
"Hi, Dib!" Jiū greeted cheerily from over my shoulder.
"Hi," he said simply, and then hurried off to join the other three without giving me a chance to say hello as well, although I doubted I'd be able to. My tongue seemed to be glued to the roof of my mouth while my mind reeled in an attempt to come up with a coherent explanation to tell him. But, knowing he'd still be upset even if I told him it was nothing, I stayed silent and gave Jiū a grateful smile when she patted me on the shoulder and said, "All done."
While I carefully stood up, taking that mermaid's arm with me—I would have thrown it back into the lake, but the scaly skin was apparently worth a nice amount at the armory—Jiū gave a concerned glance toward the other four. "Is Dib okay?" she quietly asked, glancing up at me. "He seems kind of down."
"Yeah," I murmured while I stuffed the arm into my pouch, "yeah…he and I had a…a bit of a fight, I guess." More like a very long, drawn-out misunderstanding, but the outcome seemed to be the same if not worse than a fight.
"Oh." Jiū sent me an encouraging smile. "Well, I hope you two make up soon. I'll tell Dàsăo about your leg, by the way," she said, then hurried off to join the others. I glanced down, feeling somewhat surprised to see all of the blood dripping down onto the grass. I'd forgotten I was injured.
After Xiu Chen healed and blessed me, I quickly flew back out to the rock I'd been standing on earlier, determined to drown all of the dark thoughts in the fight. I landed beside Wei Bo—however he got all the way out there, I had no idea—and gave him a quick smile. "DON'T POP UP SO SUDDENLY!" he bellowed in terror. "YOU'LL MAKE ME FALL!"
"Um…sorry," I replied, staring at him in bewilderment. If he was so afraid of falling, why'd he come out here to the middle of the lake in the first place? Anyway, he didn't need me to help him fall off the rock. There were plenty of grabby mermaid hands for that.
"What did you do to your hair?" he asked, staring up at the ponytail, a confused look on his face.
"Jiū did it. My hair gets in the way when I go underwater, so she offered to tie it up."
"What‽" he huffed. "You can't tie up your own hair‽ Why are you making my sister do all the work‽ I'll have you know that—A-A-A-AH!" Wei Bo's ankle was suddenly yanked on and he fell over with a large splash. Sighing, I folded up my wings close to myself and dove in after him. Quickly swimming downward, I pulled out my dagger and ran my eyes over the nearly pitch black lake. A tiny glimmer of silver told me where he was, and I used my wings to shoot toward him. Like had happened to me, a mermaid was holding him from behind, so I quickly began to chop off the cold arm from around his neck.
He opened his mouth, causing several bubbles to pop out when he yelled something incoherent, and suddenly unsheathed his longsword, stabbing it into something behind me while I continued to work on severing the limb from the irritatingly determined-to-drown-people mermaid.
Once Wei Bo was free, I grabbed him and propelled us upward as fast as I could manage, feeling very thankful that I didn't have to use my arms for the job. We broke the surface several seconds later and inhaled deeply. After taking a couple ragged breaths, Wei Bo glared at me and slapped my shoulder. "Put me down, I don't need your help!"
Smirking as I wondered just how he was planning on escaping by himself, I continued onward to the bank. "Think of this as a thank you for pulling me out of that pond. Also, you wouldn't want Chen-mèi to be worried about you, right? So allow me to help you ease her anxiety over how you were nearly drowned."
"Shut up," he replied, frowning in annoyance as he mumbled, "Could have done it myself just fine."
My amusement quickly died off at his words, my mind unwillingly floating back to the first time I'd met Dib when he'd yelled, "I had the situation under control! I coulda taken all four of them down, no problem at all!" He'd looked so indignant when I'd rescued him from those bears. At that time, I'd been extremely irritated with him for being so ungrateful, but now…now I wished quite a bit that he and I could go back to the way we were then; when we were just friends, no messy confusions or unwanted feelings. I felt somewhat jealous of the me from the past, and how I'd never really appreciated the time I'd spent with him. I'd taken him for granted and had simply focused on the negative side of things.
Holding back my melancholic sigh, I dropped Wei Bo and I to the bank, wishing I knew what to do to make everything go back to normal. Whatever normal was anymore.